IC has been duped by Colombo: Prof. Ramasamy

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2009, 16:07 GMT]
The Tokyo-Co-chairs and other international actors have been duped in supporting the war aims of the Sri Lankan government, says Professor P. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, Malaysia, in an exclusive interview to TamilNet. “The LTTE is expression of Tamil discontent of the Sri Lankan government and the way the latter has dealt with the Tamil national question. In so far as the conflict in Aceh was concerned, the international community was much neutral in providing the political circumstances for peace to be achieved. However, in the Sri Lankan conflict, the international took a biased stand. The current issue is not one of positions between the warring parties, but one that re-focuses attention on the fallacy of the international community in searching for a just solution for Tamils in Sri Lanka”, he says.
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Colombo uses starvation, denial of medicine as weapons of war: LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 11:26 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has been systematically limiting, delaying and blocking humanitarian supplies to the civilian population of Vanni committing a serious crime of war said a statement issued by the Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Friday. Questioning why the International Community has failed to demand the Sri Lankan government to allow humanitarian supplies reaching the civilians of Vanni, the LTTE statement issued in Tamil said it was condemning Colombo in strongest terms for using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians and for violating the Geneva Conventions.
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US questioned for lack in response to match the catastrophe

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 20:16 GMT]
While talking about rebuilding the society afterwards, US efforts right now are not matching the emergency of the situation described as a catastrophe by the ICRC, was a question of journalist, Mr. Arshad, put to US spokesman Robert Wood, when he came out with a statement on Sri Lanka, during the daily press conference of the State Department Wednesday. The spokesman agreed but placed the blame on the defiance of the parties to the conflict to the calls of the international community. Another question was on the US presumption that the conflict is coming to an end by Sri Lankan military action. “Is it not quite conceivable that the level of violence that is now occurring will simply sow the seeds for continuing or renewed conflict”, Arshad asked Wood. While agreeing that violence is at an unacceptable level, Wood said that he couldn’t make that kind of judgement.
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Nambiar reluctant to brief UN Security Council on Sri Lanka humanitarian situation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 11:08 GMT]
Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, who was sent to Sri Lanka as the United Nations envoy to report on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the beaches of Mullaiththeevu has expressed reluctance to have "even a closed door briefing" on the crisis, Inner City Press reported Tuesday. Nambiar's refusal to brief is likely have been influenced by Indian officials during Nambiar's stop-over in India after his three day visit to Sri Lanka, political sources in Colombo said.
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'Empty statements of IC evoke fury in the diaspora': Oslo hunger striker

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 14:57 GMT]
The whole concept of peace facilitation will become a mockery and no peace facilitation will hereafter be seen with credibility in the world, if Norway fails in its ‘responsibility’ in stopping civilian tragedy in Sri Lanka, said 51 years old Sri Navaratnam, the leader of Norway Tamil Sangam (association), who commenced an indefinite fast in Oslo, Monday, demanding Norway bringing out immediate ceasefire, negotiations between LTTE and GoSL, not sending civilians to camps but resettling them and Norway recognizing the self-determination of Eezham Tamils. Mr. Navaratnam was furious of empty statements coming from IC and said such statements without action only infuriate the already traumatised people.
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Fr. Karunaratnam remembered on First anniversary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 11:24 GMT]
Mr. K.Sivapalan, Deputy Chairperson of North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), on the first year anniversary of the killing of founder Chairperson of NESoHR, Rev.Father Mariampillai Xavier Karunaratnam, recounts his services to the community, and asks why the International Community is standing by as a Rwanda unfolds in Vanni. Father Karunaratnam was killed by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on 20th April 2008 while he was driving from his residential prayer and counseling center in Vavunikku'lam.
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British Foreign Secretary listens

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 April 2009, 00:06 GMT]
“We have heard their [Tamil] voice and will keep listening”, said British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, in a statement on Saturday. Saying that the British government is for ‘immediate ceasefire’ and for civilians to be ‘allowed to leave’, and the UN is progressing in making GoSL agreeing to send ‘support to civilians’ and LTTE agreeing to ‘allow civilians to leave’, the Foreign Secretary didn’t fail to mention that this is a stance in unison of Britain, France, US and many other governments. Commenting on his statement, British diaspora circles told TamilNet that the statement didn’t touch the crucial issue of ‘civilians going where’.
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Colombo shouldn’t block UN visiting safety zone: Nadesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2009, 09:28 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka should not block UN Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar visiting the safety zone and acquainting himself of the conditions of the civilians, said LTTE political head, B. Nadesan when contacted by TamilNet on Saturday after reports of Sri Lanka rejecting UN appeal for ceasefire. "The GoSL is not making arrangements for his visit, to prevent him from knowing the nature and magnitude of its offensive and to prevent first hand verifications of the truth reaching the UN," he said.
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LTTE envisages ceasefire, political solution ending armed conflict

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 10:32 GMT]
"LTTE’s armed struggle is the historical product of injustice against the Tamil Nation in the island, and if the International Community could achieve a just political solution to the conflict, the need for an armed struggle would cease to exist," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued on Friday. Mr. Pathmanathan further said: "We assure the International Community that the LTTE is ready to participate in political negotiations and fight to meet the political aspirations of the Tamil Nation at the negotiating table, through political means, if an immediate and permanent ceasefire is ensured and the human sufferings of the Tamil people are addressed."
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US says humanitarian situation dire, asks GoSL, LTTE to stop hostilities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 23:44 GMT]
In one of the strongly worded press releases United States Department of State called upon the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) to immediately stop hostilities, and to respect the right of free movement of civilians in Mullaiththeevu area. The release further noted that "[a] durable and lasting peace will only achieved through a political solution that addresses legitimate aspiration of Sri Lankan communities. Adding further killing will "stain any eventual peace," the release urged GoSL to employ diplomacy to permit a peaceful outcome of the conflict.
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US should intervene directly with GoSL, LTTE to protect civilians - Professor Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 16:42 GMT]
With Norway's ouster as a third-party engaging with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), the role of the United States in having direct access with the Liberation Tigers has become critical to negotiating a ceasefire and bring relief to the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians caught in the war. Ambassador Lunstead points out that legal restrictions imposed by US domestic laws do not prevent the U.S. taking that role, and Professor Boyle further asserts that Geneva Conventions of 1949 makes it an obligation for the U.S. to intervene directly with both the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE in order to protect these innocent Tamil civilians.
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Fein debunks Patton-Boggs "white paper" on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 April 2009, 21:52 GMT]
Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General and counsel for a Washington-based Tamil activist group, responding to a "white paper" on the current situation in Sri Lanka written and distributed to the media by Patton Boggs LLP, the Washington Law firm retained by the Government of Sri Lanka for advocacy work in the U.S., said, the "[p]aper is a collection of lies or misrepresentations calculated to conceal the ongoing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes perpetrated against Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s armed forces," and "fails to discredit a single one of the more than 1,000 genocidal incidents marshaled in the model genocide indictment."
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US Tamil groups meet with State Department on Sri Lanka crisis

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 02:17 GMT]
A group of American Tamils representing different diaspora organizations met with US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, and US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, (via video link) on 8th April in Washington, D.C., to discuss the current humanitarian crisis Tamils face in Sri Lanka. The Tamil groups pressed for an immediate ceasefire and pointed out that no durable political solution is possible without the participation of the LTTE, and told the State Department officials that "...[N]egotiations should not preclude separation as a solution, and that confederation with power sharing at the center may be a viable alternative to total separation."
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Apply adequate pressure on Colombo for ceasefire and negotiations: LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 01:09 GMT]
The LTTE is not a movement believing that war is the only means to achieve the aspirations of the people it represents. But, political solution needs an environment conducive to it. The IC can play a positive role by adequately pressurizing Colombo for ceasefire and by promoting negotiations between GoSL and the LTTE as equal partners with due recognition, said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in an interview to TamilNet on Monday. On the issue of civilians, Mr. Pathmanathan said they have already asked the IC, what international instruments now hold GoSL accountable for the denial of basic rights of the people already moved and presently living in the internment camps.
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US Group notifies IMF, US Treasury of filing complaint

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 13:42 GMT]
Counsel for the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), in a letter addressed to Secretary of the US Treasury, Timothy Geithner, and to the US Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Meg Lundsager, Friday, said that TAG will be filing a complaint Monday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia "to obtain a declaratory judgment that a failure of the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending $1.9 billion IMF loan application would constitute a violation of 22 U.S.C. 262d."
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US Group to file court action against US vote on IMF loan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 14:07 GMT]
Bruce Fein, counsel for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group, said Sunday that TAG is preparing to file a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction, and a declaratory judgment to prohibit the United States Treasury Secretary from voting to support the request by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) for $1.9 billion in economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund. TAG’s complaint alleges that a United States vote in favor of the assistance would violate a federal statute, 22 USC 262d, intended to prevent United States financial complicity in harrowing human rights abuses by IMF member governments, Fein said.
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US support to IMF's Sri Lanka loan illegal – Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 00:17 GMT]
“Concerning the proposed loan to Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund, United States domestic law makes it quite clear that the Obama Administration is obligated to oppose the loan. And given the weighted voting system for the IMF Board of Directors, a United States vote against the loan would be tantamount to a veto,” said Prof. Boyle, Professor at Illinois College of Law, adding, “for the Obama Administration to violate the Statute [22 USC 262d] and vote in favor of the proposed IMF loan to support the GOSL's "policy goals" would render the United States government "complicit" with Sri Lanka's genocide.”
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UN withheld civilian casualty figures to protect Sri Lankan state - report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Publishing two leaked documents by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN, in an exclusive report on Wednesday revealed that the United Nations office had its own estimates of casualty figures. The UN had internal documentation for 9,924 civilian casualties including 2,683 killings and 7,241 injuries since 20 January to 07 March 2009. "Now it appears that unlike in other conflicts from Darfur to Gaza, the UN withheld the Sri Lanka figures, in effect protecting the Sri Lankan government from criticism," the Inner City Press reported Wednesday. The report comes as the Sri Lankan government was trying to discredit TamilNet figures, fearing that the UN-referred casualty figures were based on TamilNet coverage.
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Boyle warns UN repeating Srebrenica debacle in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 03:41 GMT]
Pointing out that “in 1995 the United Nations Organization as a whole was fully complicit in Serbia's genocidal massacre of 8500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in violation of Article III (e) of the 1948 Genocide Convention that prohibited, criminalized and required the punishment of: 'Complicity in genocide'," Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at Illinois College of Law, said that it looks as if "the United Nations is now repeating one of the most shameless and disgraceful debacles in its entire history in today's Vanni Pocket by becoming complicit in Sri Lanka's genocide against the Tamils there.”
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Ask people their choice - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 18:04 GMT]
Have those who advocate evacuation ever cared to ask the concerned civilians whether they want to leave? What will they do if people refuse evacuation? Will they allow them to be killed, asked Yogaratnam Yogi, LTTE military advisor in Vanni in a speech given by him to the LTTE broadcast, Voice of Tigers, Thursday. Why are the governments reluctant to ask our people whether they want to live under the Sri Lanka government or under their own government? They don’t ask because they know the answer. Our request to the world is to pose this question to the people and make decisions rather than attempting through murder and denial of food, in the belief of forcing the people to accept the Sri Lankan regime, Yogi said.
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